BEST WESTERN

摘要

He was barely 17 the summer Robert Burch fell in love with the West. Just out of high school in a leafy Philadelphia suburb, he took a job as a ranch hand in Wyoming, looking for a bit of adventure and trying to earn a few bucks before heading back east for college. He picked up an appropriately outsize dream as well: to one day own a spread in Big Sky country, a place where each summer the family he hoped to have would gather around a stone fireplace at night, where the kids would rope calves and bale hay, where he could look out on the land and the river and simply be glad to be alive. Twenty-five years later, with the help of his wife, Susan, Burch has made that dream a reality. The Hobble Diamond Ranch, situated on 25,000 acres in the atmospherically named community of Big Timber, Montana, is a monument to the Burches' ambitious concept of modern Western living—an elaborate blend of ranch culture, Adirondack grandeur, Hamptons chic, and contemporary simplicity. "We're not the kind of people who spend nights out at benefits," says Susan Burch. "Our thing is family and friends. To us, life is about barbecuing, swimming in the river, and riding. We wanted a place that would be comfortable and totally welcoming."